Washington Wizards @ Atlanta Hawks Game Thread 10/30/2009

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

The Hawks are an established team who returned their top 6 players from last year, the same coach, and the same system. We came into town with a new coach running a completely different system with only one starter returning from last year's squad. Furthermore, the Hawks were at home and we were missing one of our best players. It was unreasonable to expect a win.

We made a zillion boneheaded mistakes with the basketball and endured horrific shooting from the trio of Stevenson, Young and Foye yet we were still in this thing with 5:00 to go. We're going to be just fine.

That one 6-point swing was a killer. Arenas launched a three that would have cut the lead to five. Arenas had just hit two jumpers and was in a rhythm so it was a good shot. It rimmed out and Atlanta ended up hitting a three at the other end. Next thing you know, we're down 11.

The best takeaway from the game is that Blatche continues to play well. It's not just his numbers (which were only so-so), it's the fact that he played smart basketball. He was in the right spot on D and made the right decisions on offense. He even took a charge at one point but it was ruled a foul because the tip of his heel was in the circle. Still a good play though.

If Blatche continues to play this well, we are going to be an extremely deep team once Jamison gets back.

More positives beyond Blatche:

1. The ball was shared and moved well and before the fouls the team with Oberto and Miller was +7 in the first.
2. Javale really got off at both ends and in many respects played better at C than Haywood.
3. When the bigs got the ball inside ATL was at a disadvantage.
4. When Gil wasn't turning it over, he looked great facing up. His missed three was the end, nate. But, I saw enough of the hibachi to still say he's back.


Other positives: As I post Dallas leads the Lakers in LA 80-66. Same team the Wizards ran is running the Lakers tonight. Season's very early, but it's interesting.

Can't wait til the home opener against the Nets, who lost tonight to the Magic.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I wonder whether that DNP got into Young's head a little bit. It got some press (WaPo, ESPN's Daily Dime, etc), and he was certainly tight out there. Add that to the fact that he's learning how to be a more efficient Rip/Miller type player on the fly (thereby robbing him of the option of building a rhythm through the bounce and rock of the 1-on-1 dribble), and he'll need some time to adjust.

Re: Miller. Yeah, he's gotta shoot. He also didn't look quite as athletic versus the uber-athletic wings on ATL. A few times in the 4Q, he drove to the basket and couldn't get any separation vs. Marv or Joe Johnson. Miller's got a little Jason Campbell in his game, in that his conservative play can make him look good (few TOs/INTs, high percentage) *and* bad (unwilling to go for the big play). He'll be a great fit with a healthy Caron and Jamison, but he's gotta do more for a team with DeShawn and Oberto.

Great observation, keynote. Miller's conservative, at times to a fault. He can't really finish in traffic and he won't beat guys off the dribble too often. A bit mechanical on offense.

Miller can hit the long ball and he's got the stature, rebounding, and passing ability.

He's an asset as long as somebody else is the lead dog scoring.

[no D in Hibachi]

2. Javale really got off at both ends and in many respects played better at C than Haywood.

I agree, was it me or does Haywood look like he's playing for a new contract? Don't get me wrong, for stretches he was effective, but there were times when he was way too trigger happy and seemed like it was all about gettin his, ya know? I was trilled with how good McGee looked. His first block on Crawford was clean and just sick and he jumped about 12 feet for his second block. He's still really raw and like Nate said his only offensive move is to beat his man down the floor for an alley-oop, but he helped the Wiz make a mini run in the 2nd half.

[WizarDynasty]

Miller isn't acrobactic which is why he hesitates taking it to the whole. Gilbert Arenas is really the only strong acrobactic player we have on this team. I would call nick young acrobactic but he has a weak body and can't finish through contact.
Wizards have a pretty non-acrobactic team. we have one player that consistently plays above the rim and that's McGee. We have only one coordinated post player in Blatche. and one acrobactic and strong back court player in gilbert. Every one else on the team can't create separation their own shot or draw double.
Haywood has no fine movement coordination on any of his post moves.

the offense should continously be run through blatche backing down his man and creating double teams and whoever sags off to double blatche...teh offense should be designed to atack that weakness. that's how miller and foyes three point shooting come into pla.

[Hoopalotta]

Despite all the results to the contrary, I think if Butler is out tomorrow, and I don't see how he wouldn't be for at least a game, I think we should start Nick Young.

Starting Foye tweaks the lineup a bit far (though he'll play plenty) and Stevenon is too clunky offensively to put out there with O-bert and Haywood. Nick just might get off if we show faith to start him and if he doesn't, we don't lose so much.

But watch out if he hits his first few shots.

[mhd]

Foye has to be on the bench to play PG. If Butler's out, I would start N1.

[BanndNDC]

watching the replay now (since i missed the first half) so im trying to figure out what happened by going all ocd on the first half.

- team was playing absolutely great (and gilbert had a fantastic pass to haywood) until...
- 2 missed shots (the second one probably a bad decision) by haywood then one by butler (also a bad decision (but looked like a called set play)) combined with bad defense by butler/haywood, arenas, and miller in succession.
- crawford comes in, gil hits a 3, solid d but then...
- oberto gets called for a foul on johnson (it should def have been haywood)
- blatche comes in, nice play on O. then foul on miller (weak foul but esp based on the angle of the ref completely proper and expected)
- haywood with an absolutely horrible shot. yes he was open and if it was any other player it'd have been a good shot. but it wasnt and some blame should go on miller for not recognizing that. butler was the one who should have been there. anyway, airball > fastbreak. miller tries to set up for a charge but is turned. yeah his feet seemed planted but he wasnt at a good angle and in that situation it's always a block.
- stevenson with a tough shot which probably should have gotten an and1 based on how its been called so far. then a really horrible touch foul called on stevenson called by the far ref who couldnt actually see the play. the other two had perfect angles and didnt call it.
- gil with a somewhat wild drive at the end of the shot clock looking for a call. doesn;t get it (probably shouldnt have anyway). 4 on 2 fast break (wood is gassed and barely running back. blatche and he were caught in rebounding position when the missed shot hit the front of the rim) and stevenson and butler do the matador and get split. timeout flip. 2 point lead 3:09 left in 1Q
- good play off the inbound easy bucket by butler. then tough d by caron and a travel. tough d by atl gil with the crazy end of clock drive butler dives for the loose ball. timeout wiz. a great 3 plays in a row by caron.
- blatche with a miss (but it was a good shot). gil might have been able to get the rebound if he went for it but he also might have fouled if he tried. blatche accidentally picks gil after he helps on a pick. crawford with the teardrop.
- butler quick shot miss. blatche with a poor boxout. he was in the right place but smith pushed him too close to the basket and zaza pushed wood into blatche. blatche picks gil again on the help after a pick by smith and then doesnt get back. wood had stopped crawford but smith was wide open trailing through the lane. monster dunk. tie game (1:40 left in 1q)
- gil dribbles off his foot. fast break stevenson fouls to prevent the easy two.
-stevenson with the keystone kop routine crazy dribblin almost loses ball to gil to stevenson to gil all with the ball completely out of control. gil to wood with super hard to handle low bounce pass. turnover.
- hawks go back to the same play they've been runnin with success but this time it's stevenson and not gil guarding crawford. stevenson goes through the moving pick and gets the call.
- gil with the long 3. zaza pushes wood out of position really blatantly. loose ball hawks recover but 3 of the good guys are out of position going for the ball. wood with the big time hustle back (ive never seen him run that fast) but stevenson was caught having to look out for the far side on the break then picks up the foul going for the block. 3 fouls on #3, 3 point hole. foye in.
- gil with a bad turnover on a last shot of q drive > fastbreak > easy 2
- end of 1st. butler limping slightly. hawks by 5


after the 1st. one bad call against miller. one bad missed call against zaza (which got made up in the 2nd). good play calling by the hawks taking advantage of blatche/arenas at the top of the key. bad luck on positioning after turnovers/rebounding. the big statistical diff was free throws but it was mostly legit. no worries, just need to keep things under control. take away the 2 or 3 really bad turnovers and it's even.

[BanndNDC]

2nd Q.

starts off fine.
- but then (10:49 left) miller gets called for a weak foul and ref gets pissed at miller. 3 on miller, 3 on stevenson. uh oh it's time for jason campbell.
- zaza thugs oberto on a drive no call. blatche blocks it. joe smith with rebound. oberto with the arm strafe.
- anothr to. oberto with a blatant shove on zaza but no call.
- young gets the ball and ruins flow. 3 sec violation.
- young gets burned. blatche helps then his man gets an easy two.
- young with the airball.
- zaza pushes butler who was guarding johnson. johnson with the nice shot for 2.
- young with the horrible shot. but wiz keep it. oberto with the offensive foul. it's a foul but they have been letting far worse go. it was a bad call (based on how theyve been calling it). oberto with 3. down 9.
- blathce with good d. foye with the break nice shot,
- good team d (cept young who's out of the picture). good shot blatche and1.
- butler cheats in. good pass by atl. 3 for evans.
- young misses a not that difficult pass from blathce. t.o.
- offensive foul hawks.
- young misses/ blatche gassed. rebound comes out front. 3 for crawford.
- blathce good pass to wood. foul on atl. should be a tech for knocking ball into stands.
- good d by foye. bad pass atl.
- gilbert called for an offensive foul. horrible horrible call. gil is extremely pissed.
- good d by wood. gil misses. smith hits a tough shot the other way.
- blatche for 2. good two man game with goye.
- bad to by atl. young misses on the break. wood cleans up.
- crawford hits over gil. good shot. foye with the long 3 misses no one in rebound position.
- atl misses a long 3. gil drives and gets the call (maybe should have been a charge).
- wood/blatche good d. wood with a left handed lay up.
- touch foul on foye (call was legit but these sort of touch fouls have only gone against one team so far). 7 pt deficit
- gil misses. wood on crawford with space, guess what happens.
- mcguire miss under basket (he came in for young). joe smith with a 3.
- blatche nice bucket. mcguire called for a trip (actually on slomo it looks like a bad call. tough d by wood/blatche/mcguire but atl still has the ball. butler hasnt been in for awhile.
- horrible overturned double dribble. bad call against blatche (but a typical nba bs call).
- gil is arguing w ref
- blatche misses. gill called for travel (i dont know, seems bad to me but its hard to count the steps even on slo mo). tough make by horford and that's half. 14 point deficit.


2ndQ analysis:
an epically bad stretch by young was the difference. oberto in foul trouble tired out wood/blatche. foye wasn't an offensive threat. refs got in the good guys head. miller/stevenson foul trouble was devastating. butler must have stiffened up when he came out cause he never came back in.

[BanndNDC]

all in all this wasnt that bad a performance. some bad luck on positioning. epic fail by young. foul trouble destroyed our depth. butler only played 1.5Q and no one else was able to shoulder the secondary scoring burden. both wood and gil had brief runs of bad play at bad times. blatche played well but he needs to work with gil on their pick and roll communication. miller was great until the fouls piled up. refs threw the team off their game (but it wasnt egregiously bad it was just bad timing and the complaining probably biased them against us later on).

take away the really bad unforced turnovers by gil and the nick young experience and we actually win a close one.

im only worried if butler is out for awhile cause nick young is not someone i want to rely on and it seemed to me like some of the other guys were getting annoyed at him. need mcgee to step up cause wood/blatche/oberto need some rest esp. if one of them is in foul trouble.

[DaRealHibachi]

Tough loss...

Haven't watched the game, so don't really know why we lost... Looking at the boxscore, I see CB playing 17 mins; what happened...??? Is his injury bad or what... We can't afford to lose him with AJ out...

The Good:
Wood 19 & 9
Gil scored 20+
Blatche played well
Oberto & Miller were +7
We held them to 41% shooting and 25% from outside...

The Bad:
Gil with 7 TO's hurt us and he got blocked 6 times...
Miller needs to be MUCH more aggressive
Foye's shot was off...
Blatche was a game low/high -17
Butler injured... ugh...

The Ugly:
Nick Young was awful... and he didn't do much of anything else either...

Oh well, guess we can't win 'em all...

[fishercob]

Haven't read the thread yet. We're down a TV, so to watch the game last night I had to give up the laptop so the wife could watch Grey's Anatomy. Ah well.

As far as the outcome, it's about what I would expect if you had told me we'd be without Jamison and would lose Butler to injury after 17 minutes, right? I respectfully would like to tell anyone who thinks we're a better team without Jamison that they're an idiot. There were a number of moments last night where I thought he'd really have settled us down, either with a big shot or just a veteran voice on the floor.

Nick Young played possibly the worst basketball game in the history of the sport. It made me nauseous and angry. He is completely useless if he's not making shots. Just gross.

Seems as if Gil can score pretty much whenever he wants. I would have liked to have seen him get some more calls; I wonder how much of that was inconsistency on the officials' part and how much is him not being fully within rhythm. But all in all, I think Gil looks wonderful.

Haywood looked very good. Blatche looked solid again -- and smart on the floor! No bad shots, no stupid passes. I was very encouraged. Nice energy from McGee. As soon as he figures out how to slow down and make the easy play (mostly on D) he's going to be a nice contributor.

Miller played a lovely floor game. He needed to be more aggressively offensively sooner, though. With Caron out, we needed points from him. Foye tried, and was very aggressive, but his shot just wasn't falling.

And by the way, Nick Young was disgustingly awful.

I am fearing some really bad news on Caron, to which I just shake my head and wonder why we're so cursed. I just don't know how much more of this fans can be asked to handle.

Kudos to Atlanta. They're a real team and will be tough this year. I like our healthy squad better, but seeing as a healthy squad is a total pipe dream at this point you have to buy their prospects more than ours right now. Ugh.

[Zerocious]

seriously though, caron's wearing knee pads, how did he hurt his knee?

i feel an amazinly sucky nick youg thread coming on....

[LyricalRico]

Nick Young played possibly the worst basketball game in the history of the sport. It made me nauseous and angry. He is completely useless if he's not making shots. Just gross.

Seems as if Gil can score pretty much whenever he wants. I would have liked to have seen him get some more calls; I wonder how much of that was inconsistency on the officials' part and how much is him not being fully within rhythm. But all in all, I think Gil looks wonderful.

Haywood looked very good. Blatche looked solid again -- and smart on the floor! No bad shots, no stupid passes. I was very encouraged. Nice energy from McGee. As soon as he figures out how to slow down and make the easy play (mostly on D) he's going to be a nice contributor.

Miller played a lovely floor game. He needed to be more aggressively offensively sooner, though. With Caron out, we needed points from him. Foye tried, and was very aggressive, but his shot just wasn't falling.

And by the way, Nick Young was disgustingly awful.

Agree on all points. Blatche looked about as smart as I've ever seen him. Stayed under control and kept the team in the game in the second quarter. If Haywood can remain this aggressive on offense, he could finally start getting some respect.

The game really turned in the first quarter when Miller went out because that's when we started losing the battle of the boards. That may have been a time to put in McGuire instead of Stevenson or Young. (Speaking of Young - he just needs to go. And sooner rather than later before everyone around the league sees what we're seeing.)

Lastly, this was clearly a game where we could have used Jamison's scoring and rebounding. And now with Caron out, we could be in trouble.

[fishercob]

Love the hustle by Butler, diving on the floor.

Then again, 80 games left. Don't get hurt, Tough Juice.

Arrrrrrrgh!

[miller31time]

Anger, disappointment, frustration....feeling a lot of things right now.

Anger that we are a cursed franchise with players made of broken glass held together by the cheapest, oldest tape imaginable.

Disappointment that Mike Miller, one of the most deadly shooters in the league, is afraid to shoot and that Nick Young couldn't make a shot if his life depended on it.

Frustration that we got the short end of many calls (not blaming the loss on this though - that'd be pretty stupid) that could have helped us close the gap and changed the way we approached certain situations.

To end on some positives...

-despite all of that, we got to within 7 points with just a minute or two left
-Arenas can get to the basket at will (might not get the calls but whatever)
-McGee instantly helped us off the bench

[Ji]

Its ridiculous that 2 games into the season....we already have Jamison and Butler missing. Wtf lol? No team has this kind of luck

luckily we are deep enough that we should beat NJ tonight...but come on caron man...give me a break. Your as fragile as Chinaware. We should of traded his ass last year when he had some value

[LyricalRico]

On the Atlanta side, Crawford makes them a lot more explosive IMO. He's athletic enough to run with them and a good enough passer to set up guys like Josh Smith and Horford for easy dunks. He can get his own shot if he needs to or he can play off of Bibby and Joe Johnson with his outside shooting. Add in the defense from Evans and Joe Smith and they've got a pretty balanced bench.

I may have underestimated them.

[WizarDynasty]

crawford coming off the bench and getting superstar treatment from the refs with his foul calls was a big reason they won and nick unable to drive to rim and score against through through contact due to his weak body is the second reason we lost.
If you think about it, Nick is a really poor man jamal crawford w/o the handles and veteran confidence. I was disappointed in caron acrobactic ability. Dmac is pathetic on offense still, the guy has no hope.
Nick should have been hitting the weight room to make his body stronger.
blatche started to show fatigue issues but he was the most impressive post player causing atlanta to double team him. Haywood never could draw a double team because his post moves and release are mechanical. His defensive rebounding mobility is horrible and one of the reason atlanta was able to get 3 and 4 chances to score.

[JWizmentality]

Any update on Butler?

[Zerocious]

i'm sorry i keep harping on this, but i can not believe how fagile this gy is. next he'll miss a game because an arrend pass bounces of his chest or something. i would dive for a loose ball 10 times a game and still get up and play. these guys get the money so they can say adios the minute the have a f'in hang nail. i'm so pissed at what pu**ies some of these guys are. That said if caron is seriously injured i'm appologize. BUT DRINK SOME MORE TOUGH JUICE!!